How wearables and apps make a fantastic Father’s Day

Father’s Day is this Sunday, and while some may have already picked up a gift and planned a day for your dad, the rest (including me) are probably just starting. To you I say, “have no fear, ACT | The App Association is here!”

As you may have noticed, ACT | The App Association is doing a 99-Day Wearables Try-on-athon. We are gathering as much info as we can on these devices to help you figure out which device is best for you (or in this case, dad)! Wearables can be a great gift for dad, but more importantly, testing out wearables and doing a day of “challenges” with dad is a great way to spend Father’s Day.

For We Wear It, I’m testing out the Moov and Jawbone Up Move. I’ve been using the Moov to get in workouts when I can’t get to the gym (more on that in a second) and to improve my swim time. So far, the Moov has shown me where I’m loosing time on my turns, helping me see where I need the most work. I’ve been able to create drills for myself to work on turning and hitting the surface faster. Slowly but surely, my time has been increasing over the last couple weeks.

The Jawbone has helped give me a much more complete picture of my overall fitness. I’ve been able to see when I’m most active, when I’m least active, and I use the workout tracking feature to make sure I hit a certain activity level everyday. I’m still working to reach 10,000 steps on a daily basis, and the Jawbone sends me encouragements – I’ve found it really helpful.

With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to head to the gym with my pops and see how we could use these devices to improve our workouts while having a blast.

Before I get into specifics, I probably need to make a few things clear:

I am not the biggest gym goer. I prefer working out in the comfort of my living room without big scary weight machines that I can never get to the right setting.

My dad is a gym rat. He loves the gym, he loves extremely hard workouts, his mantra is the sweatier, the better, and he takes sick pleasure in post-workout soreness (okay, technically maybe I’m overreacting here, and he did tell me how to counteract the sore and checked up on me pretty much all day…but I could sense the smile when I called him to complain…).

Much like Miley, my pops can’t be tamed. He wants to do what he wants to do, how he wants to do it – and when (at least at the gym). Workouts you have to follow are not typically for him.

So, my dad and I packed up the devices and our sneakers and hit the gym!

We started with a quick run on the treadmill to get our juices flowing – according to the Moov, my dad has perfect form! Then we moved to some full body exercises like holding plank poses for varied times, some core exercises like sit-ups (dad loves them, I hate them), and then we ended our workout with some cardio boxing. While I’m not typically the most coordinated person, I actually really enjoyed boxing and it was great being able to compare my form and my dad’s form (mine was totally better :D).

So what were our takeaways?

Moov is great for its exercises and coaching element – like their tough 7 minute workout, distance running, swimming, cardio boxing, etc. As previously established, my dad likes to go his own path at the gym, but once I got him over that, we had a fun time trying them out.

I’ve certainly put the Moov to the test on my own, too. So far, my plank pose has gone from pathetic to nearly perfect (thanks to the coaching feature). My favorite thing about Moov workouts is not having to worry about counting reps (the device and app do that for me) so I can focus on form and doing the exercises correctly.

The Jawbone was helpful in counting our steps (a pretty impressive 10,000 something) and providing a holistic look at our time at the gym. The Jawbone Up Move tracks activity type and level, and I was able to go back later and add in more specific information. Next time, I’m planning to incorporate additional apps with the device to log individual exercises, weight, reps, and other data points.

If you’re planning to do one of these with your dad, my suggestion would be to plan your workout around the device. Try a steps challenge, or go on a long hike and see how your steps differ.

The most important part of this is having fun with your dad. Our experience was both experimental and hilarious – we laughed, I cried, he laughed, we talked, we kicked, we planked, and I think we’ve found a new activity to do together.

Plus, my dad did such a good job helping me through the exercises and making sure my form was correct, the trainers all joked about giving my dad a “trainer” shirt from the gym! (Which coincidentally is totally what I will be getting him this Sunday ;D)

So, go forth and have your own try-on-athon with your dad this Father’s Day!